Opening F-111 dump and burn at Riverfire 2006, an annual fireworks/RAAF spectacular at South Bank in Brisbane, Saturday September 2nd 2006

The most vulnerable countries in 2010 are shown in PIMCO’s chart “The Ring of Fire.” These red zone countries are ones with the potential for public debt to exceed 90% of GDP within a few years’ time. The yellow and green areas are considered to be the most conservative and potentially most solvent, with the potential for higher growth.

Really interesting graph in today's Australian, comparing numerous advanced economies in the western world, in terms of their public debt and budget deficit (as a percentage of GDP).

So, going left to right, it shows Gross Government Debt as a percentage of Gross Domestic Production (for the year). We've jumped from 10% of GDP in 2007 to about 17% (or more) now, and though it's still going up, it's still the lowest of all the countries on that list. That, doubtless, is with major thanks to Costello and Howard.

Going top to bottom, it shows current government surplus / deficit for the year, once again as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product. And, once again, Australia's 4% deficit, though it's in deficit, still looks fairly healthy, compared to, say, poor old Greece .

In fact, we look like we're in a better state than just about any other country on the list.

Below is a quick definition of GDP Gross Domestic Product. All three approaches are designed to bring a roughly equivalent total.

Production Approach: Total annual gross (less cost of sales) for all business enterprises whether individual, corporate or government. It includes total exports, as they boost our trade balance, and an "imputed services value" in dwelling ownership.Click here for GDP by Australian industry between 2006 and 2011.

Income Approach: Those totals are made up of wages, profits, interest, rents, also adding back provisions for depreciation.

Expenditure Approach: These totals are employed in private consumption, investment in new assets, and government taxation.
Note, with record low (and even negative) interest rates, many governments are boosting their GDP in overall security education and health by spending more than they receive in taxation, issuing government bonds to account for the shortfall, and in Japan and the West using quantitative easing to "monetize that debt" without increasing interest rates. Click here to see each government's tax and spend figures as percentages of overall GDP.

Note too, the following figures are specifically excluded from GDP:

Government payments for unemployment / Centrelink / subsidies.

A value placed on work that is provided in an economy by nonmarket transactions such as homemakers and military personnel.

Illegal activities such as drug trafficking.

Goods and services that are bartered.

Sale of intermediate goods (raw materials).

Sale of used goods (used cars, furniture, etc.).

** Purely financial transfers such as loans, gifts, and sales of stocks and bonds.

Imports (goods made outside the country) because those expenditure payments head overseas.

** With regard to gifts to churches and non-profit aid organizations, click here for the "mutuality" principle that is applied.

Click here for a Euro journal tracking the IMF's bailout of Greece on May 4th 2010.Brief Quote "The Greek bailout means Euro-area nations are indeed their brothers' keepers, which in practice means every country's debt is on every other country's balance sheet."

Further thoughts on the Reserve Bank (in Australia), the Big Four (plus other Banks), and Australian Govt Debt

Click here for UTS financial lecture notes on how the Reserve Bank actually operates as a clearing house for all Australian banks every day.From https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com /nexusnotes-media/wp-content/uploads/edd/2016/07/16031534 /Pages-from-The-Financial-System-Notes.pdf

Click here for the timeline of our "Big Four" Australian banks. Includes a link to the latest APRA report showing current assets and liabilities of all Australian banks.

Click here for a graph 2006 - 2017 of Australian Govt Budget Surplus/Deficit.

Click here for a 45 year graph 1971 - 2016 of Australian Govt Net Debt (Gross Debt less Financial Assets in Currency, Stocks and Bonds) as published by FlagPost - Australia's Commonwealth Parliamentary Library - in 2012.

Click here for a 58 year Aussie Home Interest Rates Timeline 2017 back to 1959.

Now, the email below sets out further details of early years of trading in Australia

Click here for further background to Australia's settlement in recorded history (after 1788), specifically looking at Brisbane.

Click here for a GDP refresher (Gross Domestic Product) with Australia being somewhat a standout, given our size and youth.

Hi all

Well, apparently, first it was the grand old days of “promissory” / “small change” exchange notes used for bartering — all having a “face” value and a “buying” value. 100 businesses apparently got started up this way in Sydney and Hobart. Yes, the imagination boggles at what they promised soldiers, administrators and free settlers, both legally and illegally. And with a major shortage of silver coins, rum became the colony's "money", more by necessity than choice.

A brief background: With the departure of Captain Phillip at the end of his tenure as governor in 1792, the infant colony was briefly left in the care of lieutenant-governors who governed on behalf of the New South Wales Corps. Importantly, members of this military force had the ability to raise capital — labour and materials — by borrowing against their regimental pay, which was accumulating back home in England.

In 1793 the American trading ship, the 'Hope', arrived with 7,500 gallons of rum in her cargo. The other goods she carried were desperately needed but the Hope's captain insisted that he would sell nothing to the colonists unless they also bought all of his rum. The New South Wales Corps officers accordingly formed a syndicate with regimental paymaster John Macarthur fixing the necessary IOUs against the regiment's funds in England, bought this cargo, then distributed it at a sizeable profit. The vast pool of rum flooded into the market place at grossly inflated prices and at once became a means of exchange. For their efforts, the New South Wales Corps were immediately dubbed the 'Rum Corps', a name which stuck until their recall to England in 1810. The rich pickings they made from that first deal gave them the power to monopolise almost all trade, particularly that in rum (the name given to all spirits), for those 17 years. In 1805 Macarthur, having resigned his commission, was appointed 5,000 acres by the Privy Council in London for Merino sheep purchased in South Africa, to be based at Elizabeth Farm, near Parramatta (and named after his wife).

Click here for further background to John Macarthur, his trips to England, and an account of the coup against Governor Bligh in 1808 which led to Macarthur's son going to London accompanied by the first bale of exported wool.

Click here for a history of Australia Post, with Isaac Nichols appointed the first postmaster in 1809. Having one man in charge alleviated the mayhem that at times occurred when supply ships arrived, which was said to include unscrupulous people taking other people's mail and selling it back to them. Nichols worked from his house, also substantial buildings he had built in lower George St then known as High Street from where he had also established a shipyard. The cost to a recipient for the service he provided was one shilling i.e. about $65 today.

Incidentally, this principle of "having the recipient pay" is still practised by Australia Post with letters or parcels where there is no (or under) paid postage. If there is no return address listed on the back, their "stated" policy is to leave a card for the addressee advising of a postal article awaiting with more to pay on it. Then, if still unclaimed and if there is no return address inside, after a length of time — between three and 12 months depending on the value of any goods inside — any goods are auctioned off for charity.

In 1810 Governor Macquarie arrived with a new army regiment, followed, in November 1812, by a shipment of £10,000 value in Spanish dollars (i.e. $40,000 in Spanish coins) for the colony's use. Now, starting in 1817, came the first banks, working initially with these Spanish dollars. Macarthur returned that same year, with his exported wool soon making him the "richest man" in NSW. In 1826 English currency became Australia's official currency, using silver and copper coins issued to the colony from the London mint.

Australian banks were now divided into two distinct categories — saving banks and trading banks. Saving banks paid virtually no interest to their depositors, their lending activities were restricted to providing mortgages, and ended up guaranteed or owned by the colonial government(s), using post offices as front counter agencies. Safer for borrowers and depositors. Trading banks on the other hand were private banks, essentially merchant banks, which provided no services to the general public, but were underwriters for farmers, miners, builders, etc. They printed private banknotes / future-dated promissory notes, based on their paid-up capital — starting with that Bank of NSW in 1817. But most of these trading institutions closed their doors — specifically through depressions in the 1840s and in the 1890s — as businesses that partnered with them failed, with inadequate insurance. And then there were the standover merchants. It was a tough land. Ouch.

However even when fraud occurred, losses were borne, via colonial government regulation, only by that bank's shareholders and/or overseas depositors / banknote holders. Rarely, if ever, by Australian depositors / banknote holders. While runs on banks certainly occurred, it meant a corresponding "domino" effect was short-lived. Click here for further background.

Of course, the gold rush in 1851 helped — some people . A Sydney mint opened in 1855, issuing gold coins, followed by the Melbourne mint in 1872.

In 1893, the year of the great Brisbane flood and with many banks failing, the Queensland Treasury issued their own legal tender banknotes, via Queensland Government bonds, and prohibited private banks in the colony from issuing their own notes. These, instead, replaced the private banknotes of the eight trading banks whose doors had not closed.Click here to read about the political situation, with missionaries from London requesting Queensland's protection to New Guinea in the immediate north.

But, back to banking, they were the first colonial government to do that on a major scale since, perhaps, the days of that regimental paymaster John Macarthur in 1793 with those IOUs. And, as intended, it helped restore confidence and brought people and investment — to Brisbane (and Queensland).

Queensland had another "first" 84 years later when it abolished death duties, which, yes, got the other state governments somewhat cranky as they do all have to compete for capital, and there was a sizeable inrush of capital into Queensland when that announcement came in January 1977.

But to double its income from sales taxes (it was still very young), the Qld government now introduced a wide-ranging Income Tax Act in 1902, click here for more details. To summarize, the levy was 10 shillings per annum on every adult male over the age of 21 earning less then £100, £1 per annum if earning between £100 and £150, then 5% on "produce of property" income and 2½% on "personal exertion" income for income over £150. Note, adult females weren't taxed unless their income exceeded £150. Click here for income taxing in the other states. For further background on Australia's tax history, click here.

Back to the banks. In 1910 came Commonwealth Treasury banknotes printed by the Commonwealth printer which said it would give the same guarantee, Australia-wide, and told the Queensland Treasury to stoppit . They gradually replaced all of the private trading banks’ banknotes, once again, provided that their doors were still open.

The last bank failure in which Australian depositors lost money (and then only a minimal amount) was that of a trading bank, the Primary Producers Bank of Australia, in 1931. Since the early 1930s, banks have wound up but, banking sector problems have been resolved, without losses to depositors. Currently the Federal Government guarantees deposits (up to $250,000) per customer, per institution, click here.

Yes, we are such a young country, hard to understand other countries’ situations, and so hard for other countries to understand us. And isn’t it amazing at how the Lord has undertaken, so often, during those past 224 years.

Click here for further background of how promissory notes and deposit slips evolved into privately backed banknotes and how the bill of exchange turned into a modern cheque.

Blessings Steve

Click here for further background to the minting of Australian coins from the English Royal Mint. In 1983, the Australian government "floated" the Australian dollar, meaning that it no longer manages its value by reference to the English pound, the US dollar or any other foreign currency.

Click here re EFTPOS in Australia, launched by Woolworths, Coles and major banks in 1988. It employed Mastercard's Maestro debit card service that required not only that the magnetic stripe was able to be read with every transaction, but also that cleared funds were available and could be affirmed by each cardholder's issuing bank, helping shoppers stay in control of their budgeting.

Click here for an easy-to-follow image of the numerous steps involved in processing electronic card transactions. Click here for the difference between the "card issuer" bank and the "acquirer" bank (merchant bank).

Click here for Paypal, a recently created "acquirer" bank for electronic payment processing.

Click here for Visa and Mastercard's background. Click here for the Bank Identification Numbers issued to them and other credit cards worldwide. Click here for Visa's US-based Card Acceptance Guidelines for Merchants. It shows the steps Visa follows, in validating a transaction worldwide.

Thoughts on Mammon

What it does is take the net position: Total external assets (owned in other countries) of every individual , company, and government institution, then subtracts the total external liabilities.

It then sorts the countries using that figure as a percentage of each country’s GDP i.e. the country's total gross production for the year (ignoring subsidies and pensions made
by the public service).

Ok in this year, yes, China’s near the top: doesn’t show actual figures, it just shows it’s in the black with a percentage of 37%. Their GDP is currently $US 7 trillion, which would indicate a net investment position of $ 2½ trillion in the black, and is why every other country would like them to revalue their yuan, as it artificially makes their goods too cheap.

The U.S. and the U.K. are together in the middle

The U.K. £180 billion in the red which is 13% of their GDP

The U.S. **$ 2½ trillion in the red which is 16% of their GDP

Finally, near the bottom, Australia $850 - $900 billion in the red which is 64% of our GDP, yes, ever since we were first settled we’ve relied on other countries to invest in us, to help us get going. And yes, our public service has always been somewhat top heavy
See the page below for how much we are individually and corporately in debt to "managed funds" (in Australia as well as overseas).

Ok Australia’s Federal debt in bonds is now roughly about $270 billion
Total State and Territory debt in bonds roughly about $230 billion
Private company debt in bonds about $720 billion
So, bonds investment: $1.22 trillion

Leaving a balance, roughly, for banks and other investors in Australia to supply:

$70 billion

Total:

$3.37 trillion

Yep, we’ve relied hugely on overseas investment since 1788 — starting with those famous IOU's written in 1793 for 7,500 bottles of overseas rum, authorized by the British Regiment's Paymaster — but with so much now available in our own superannuation and insurance and trust funds, the percentage of nett overseas investment has actually dropped.

So, while Mr Abbott and Mr Hockey are doubtless wise in endeavouring to, very gradually, reduce the $300 billion owing in federal bonds, those other figures do help to bring it all into a better perspective, with all the shouting that’s going on.

Thank you Lord, yes, to rest in you, to look to you, our loving heavenly Father, for each coming day’s needs.

“give us day by day, the bread for each coming day” as several translations put it.

Blessings all :-) Steve

And at the end of the day, as the scripture says, each one of us has to bear his own load, whether as individuals, company directors or politicians. Ahh the Lord knows.